Hello all, moving to spain and rent long term, and pension advice please.

Hello everyone,

We are a couple from Newcastle who are gathering info as we are thinking of moving to spain next year. I am under pension age but my partner receives a UK state pension and 2 smaller private pensions, one being an NHS one. Totalling around £1100 per month. The taxation system baffles us and wonder what we would be taxed on this income over in Spain? Also, we have a property here, not worth much but our student granddaughter would be living here rent free whilst at Uni for the next 5 years. 

Its all so overwhelming and confusing so we are hoping you lovely guys over in Spain can guide us in the right direction...thanks everyone in advance x

You will have to file an initial tax return to get on the system. With £1100 between you then you probably won't pay any tax or, at least, very little. You get an allowance (like UK) plus other allowances such as married, children, mortgage and so on and then another allowance on top depending on how much you earn.

Once on the system you will receive free healthcare.

However, are you also getting an income? If so, you will also have to submit a tax return and you need to work out if a joint return or 2 single returns are more advantageous (different levels of allowances).

If not getting an income, then I would think very seriously about moving to Spain. Once rent has been paid, that doesn't really leave a lot for day to day living. I would think a couple could live happily on £1000 a month but only after rent has been paid. Remember, you electric bill will be almost €100 a month to take off that.

Hi mariedav, no I won't have an income but we will have some savings that will support us both for a good 10 years. . Do you know what the allowance is for a couple please. We initially want to try it out for 6months to a year,  to see if its what we want, so would we have to declare pensions etc straight away. Would he be taxed on his NHS pension too? 

Individual allowances are about €5750 each. Over 65 it is higher. Then there is another allowance if you are a lower earner which varies depending on your income. I think it is €3700 if you earn around €13150 a year but best to check with whoever will be doing your tax returns. You need to tell the tax man in UK you are moving abroad so you can have the NHS pension paid free of tax in UK but, yes, it needs to be declared in Spain. You complete a tax return a year in arrears so, if you are resident for over 6 months this year (which you won't) then you do the return in about March or April next year. In your case you will be resident next year so you won't complete your tax return until March 2017 for the year 2016 (tax year here is the same as a calendar year).

NIce if you've got some savings behind you. It is cheaper here to live (my council tax per year is what I was paying for every month in UK).

Best of luck.

No point telling UK taxman one is relocating abroad until you have decided to become a tax resident in the country of your new residence because DWP will need to have proof of new tax arrangements.

As you are not selling up in UK you legitimately have 183 days to decide whether or not Spain is for you. So suggest you initially think of it as a prolonged holiday because the harsh truth is that sunny Spain is NOT the utopia many Brits believe and within 3 months, a mere 91 days, are eager to head back to the very green and inclement weather of home.

However should you decide to stay then you need definitely need to enlist the help of a gestoria because Spanish tax has many variables which cannot be explained, or indeed understood, by the layman.

Thanks for the info. So we could go for 6-12 months initially without having all the hassle of form filling etc until we decide it is for us and we want to stay. So would it be best to get private healthcare in that time before declaring tax and then going onto free healthcare for him as he is pensionable? Would we still need an NIE number in the trial period? Is there anything we need to do in that trial period? Or just use it as an extended holiday. Also, how long are you allowed a UK registered car there? Thanks

One is legally entitled to stay in Spain for max of 183 days before one is  deemed to become a tax resident.  However relocating anywhere outside of UK is not so simple. To give honest answers to the best of our ability we need more info such as

Are you intending to hire a car or bringing your own over.

Are you intending to rent from a UK resident or seek rental property here? maybe you have a desire to buy.

 An NIE number is VERY important in Spain and is required for virtually everything.

www.gov.org will give you all the info you need plus dropping into the DWP , located in your city of Newcastle, may answer more queries.